Lewis Hamilton credits team after great win in America

Lewis Hamilton celebrates on the podium after winning the United States Formula One Grand Prix

It was such a warm welcome and one of the best, if not the best, race of the year – especially for me and the team

Lewis Hamilton

The British ace stormed past championship-chasing ­Sebastian Vettel on lap 42 and roared on to victory a week before his last race for the team at the Brazilian GP.

With Red Bull racer Vettel second and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso third, the 25-year-old German now leads the Spaniard by 13 points.

He is chasing his dream of becoming only the third driver in F1 history to win three successive world titles, after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher.

And Red Bull winning the constructors’ championship for the third year running was no consolation.

Instead – and just as he did at the last US GP five years ago – Hamilton managed to drape a Union Jack over America before switching to Mercedes next season, with team-mate Jenson Button fifth.

“That was amazing,” said Hamilton over the team radio. “Thanks guys, we definitely deserved that one.” He added later: “I’m so happy. The fans were amazing, thank you.

“It was such a warm welcome and one of the best, if not the best, race of the year – especially for me and the team.

“It’s been a long time since we had a win. I’m so proud of the team and grateful for the support we’ve had.”

And Vettel was generous in defeat, saying: “As Lewis said, it was incredible. I did my first race five years ago in the United States. It’s nice to come back for my 100th GP.

“It’s amazing the number of people we have had here all weekend. I’m happy for the team, we won the constructors’ championship, so thanks to all of you.

“Now we have another step to make in Brazil. In terms of the championship, it’s looking a bit better after today. It was a tough race. He had one chance and he took it. It was a great race.”

Ferrari made an extremely dodgy looking – but legal – strategy call before the race in a desperate bid to aid Alonso’s title hopes.

They broke the seal on the gearbox of team-mate Felipe Massa, earning the Brazilian a five-place grid penalty and dropping him from sixth to 11th.

In turn it promoted Alonso from eighth to seventh, allowing the Spaniard to start on the clean side of the grid and potentially improve his start.

A Ferrari spokesman even praised Massa for helping Alonso’s cause, adding the move was made because “the interests of the team come before anything else”.

And it worked like a dream as Alonso made a sensational start, climbing from seventh to fourth in his Ferrari, while Hamilton, in his second to last race for McLaren, lost second place starting on the dirty side of the track, to Red Bull’s Mark Webber.

Vettel simply cruised away at the start and with only four laps gone Alonso was already six seconds behind him.

Alonso got a boost on lap 18 when Webber’s alternator failed, forcing him out and promoting the Ferrari ace to third.

But his team nearly shot him in the foot with a poor pit stop and he dropped behind Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen.

Alonso slipped to sixth on lap 23 when Button, who had surged through the field, catapulted past the Spaniard.

With 38 laps gone Hamilton was breathing down Vettel’s neck again and pulled off a masterstroke on lap 42 when he blasted past and into the lead after the German was held up by backmarkers and clipped a kerb.

As it stands, if Alonso wins in Brazil and Vettel finishes fifth or lower, Alonso will be champion.

If Vettel finishes fourth and Alonso wins, they will be on equal points, but Vettel will win as he would have won more races.